Portable bench for packing houses



Oct. 29, 1935. B. L. sMlTH 2,019,438

PORTABLE BENCH FOR PACKING HOUSES Original Filed May 5, 1953 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 awe/14M:

Bessie Linn Smith,

Oct. 29, 1935. B. L. SMITH PORTABLE BENCH FOR PACKING HOUSES Original Filed May 5, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Bessie Linn smith,

Oct. 29, 1935. a MITH 2,019,438

PORTABLE BENCH FOR PACKING HOUSES Original Filed May 5, 1933 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Oct. 29, 1935 UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE PORTABLE BENCH FOR. PACKING HOUSES Bessie Linn Smith, Avon Park, Fla.

Application May 5, 1933, Serial No. 669,616

Renewed August 1'7, 1935 6 Claims. (Cl. 226-129) The invention concerns apparatus for use in f in which these rollers are journaled extend packing houses, for instance, where citrus fruit beyond the front of the bench as indicated at 1! is packed in boxes for shipment. The invention so as to overlie the conveyor when the bench resides in the features and combination and aris moved into the position indicated at a: in Fig. l.

.5 rangment of parts hereinafter described and par- During the packin op t on th box is upp t ticularly pointed out in th clai s, on the inclined surface afforded by the several In the drawings rollers f at a point directly above the body of Figure l is a diagram of the apparatus in plan the bench. With the box in this position the view. bench is moved from the bin to a point opposite 0 Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a portable carrier the b x st p din Fi so hat h v r-r h or bench for the box of fruit or other article. r v ra f wa d p i s f th track Fig. 3 is a detail view of a supporting member bars y will overlie the conveyor belt. The box for the box t b a ked, with its packed fruit is then moved down along Fig, 4 i further detail View, the incline towards the belt, and having reached Fig, 5 is a 1 View of conveyor d b x the desired position, the bench is withdrawn so 15 stop. This view also illustrates the portable bench a e o i posi d i t p oper pos ti v or packing box carrier in its relation to the con- 011130 the C y The bOX p determines n veyor for delivering the packed boxes thereon. large degree h p p p n of th which Fig. 6 is a side view of a portable bench or b in being delivered upon the conveyor contacts carrier i modified f r with this stop, and is thus limited as to its fur- 20 Fi 7 i a det n iew of rt of Fi 6, v v ther movement transversely of the conveyor. Fig. 8 is a plan view of a portable bench in Instead Of having the track a I W th inmodified form clined upper edges, they may be of the form Fig. 9 is a side view of the bench of Fig. 8. shown in Fig. 3, in which instance the anti-fric- Figs 1() and 11 are views of box Stop t be tion rollers are of different diameters so that the 25 Sociated t t conveyor inclined track or surface along which the packed Referring to Fig. 1 a indicates in plan vie box moves, will be provided. Instead of the rollseries of bins from which the fruit or other arers the track members or inclines ay be of the ticles are taken b the attendant and packed in form shown in a presenting p i upper ina box mounted on a portable bench or carrier. A clined edges down Which the 1001! m y be moved 30 number of these carriers are indicated at b in by the operator- A handle i p ov d d at g by proper relation tothe bins to enable the attendwhich the bench may be o d f om place to ants to do the packing. In this diagram also is P indicated a conveyor 0, composed of parallel The bOX Stop d may consist of a strip f stretches or line of 1inks for Supporting the box comparatively thin material, presenting its edge 35 of fruit when delivered thereupon by moving a for contact with the box so that small frictional bench from the position adjacent the. bins to resistance will be e by reason of is Conthe position indicated at .r. At this station there tactis provided a box stop (1 adapted to arrest the box AS shown in Figs- 10 and 11, there y be tWO in proper relation to the conveyor when said. box of these hOX p bars One ove the other. 40 is moved from the portable bench onto the con- A suitable support such a d may be attached veyor. to the floor to hold these box stop strips in The portable bench as shown in Fig. 2 consists p p s Spaced apart r l ti n to each other. of a body portion 2) of any suitable construction In Figs. 6 and 7 there is shown a modified form mounted upon casters 6 and provided at its upof the inclined tracks or surfaces, down which 45 per end with supporting means for the packed the packed box may be moved, this modification box; which upporting means presents an comprising a collapsible feature, whereby when clined trackway down which the box may move the bench is being moved about the packing house so as to be discharged onto the conveyor. in an emp y Condition, the overhanging OI t Th inclined way in Fig. 2 is made up of a series ends of the track members or box delivering sup- 50 of rollers r mounted in a bar or frame f secured p t may be moved to a p n wher it is out to the top of the body of the bench in any suitof t W y- T s may be a mp ish d in variable manner. These rollers may be of the same one Ways, but in the particular form shown in diameter, but they are arranged with their axes Figs. 6 a d 7 the structure includes a p o al in an inclined plane, The frame members or bars mounting of the forward ends f of the support or 55 track bars, consisting of pivot members f passing through slots f in the track bar sections f These track bar sections also have notches such as shown at f to engage pins i projecting from the main fixed portions of the track bars.

These hinged forward sections F, by the construction just described, may be collapsed into the position shown in Fig. 7, where they hang down at the front of the bench. They may be so collapsed when the box is being filled, or when the carrier is being moved from place to place. When, however, the carrier is in use, in the act of transporting a filled box from the bin to the conveyor, the collapsible extensions should be in the position shown in Fig. 6 so that they can be made to overlie the conveyor for the, delivery. thereupon of the packed box.

Instead of having these track sections collapsed in the form above described, they may be hinged as shown in Figs. 8 and 9 to swing laterally from the extended positions shown at f to the dotted line positions shown at f The pivotal mountings for these track members are indicated at h.

Any suitable means may be used for holding the packed box against movement along the top of the portable bench during transportation, such for instance, as the hooks k, Fig. 5 suitably pivoted to the top of the portable bench, for engaging the box. These holding means may be desirablewhere the inclined track surface is made up of rollers, but where the rollers are omitted, such for instance, as in Figs. 8 and 9, there would be sufiicient frictional resistance to the movement of the box downthe incline as would render unnecessary the use of these catches or holding hooks. It will be understood, however, that whether the anti-friction rollers are used or not, the incline at the topof the portable bench i. e. along the track members, will be sufiiciently steep to materially aid in the movement of the box into a position to be delivered onto the conveyor.

At 11 Figs. 10 and 11 are shown bracketsto reach under the conveyor to steady the box stop 45' standards when unusual pressure is imposed on the box stop by the box under careless handling.

The box stop d is provided with bevelled or rounded ends to prevent the box from being arrested in its movement with and along the conveyor. The movementof the conveyor chains must not be interfered with, which might happen if the operator should carelessly deposit the boxslightly to one side of the box stop where its side might hit against the end of the box stop hard.

The track way may assume different forms. I

, with anti-friction rollers or not, though I do not limit myself to the spaced apart feature. This, however, reduces the friction surface. Furthermore, the spacing of the bars or tracks provides a free space between them in which a packer can stand so as to be close to the body of the bench, if it is desired to not utilize the collapsible feature of the projecting bars or tracks.

I claim:

1. In combination, a portable packing bench having a trackway at its top inclined downwardly toward its discharge end and providing a platform for holding a container to be packed, the discharge portion of said trackway projecting beyond the body of said bench to overlie a free space therebeneath, and means carried by the bench for holding the container to be packed on the portion of the inclined trackway above the body of the bench, said holding means being detachable from the container to permit its movement down the trackway to the tion.

2. In a portable packing bench a body structure and a trackway carried thereby for supporting a container, said trackway having a portion extending along the top of the body structure 10 and having a portion supported entirely by the bench in laterally projecting relation thereto beyond the topthereof to overlie a free space therebeneath and permit the bench to be moved adjacent aconveyor with the projecting portion 15 a of the trackway overlying the same, the trackway portion above the body structure providing a platform on which a container may be placed during packing and along which the container may be shifted toward the side of the bench at which the 20 packer stands in packing and from which the projecting portion extends, said projecting portion slanting downwardly away from the bench to gravitationally deliver a container onto a conveyor within said free space and. said projecting 2 portion comprising two parallel spaced apart arms providing a space between them to receive a packer close to the body structure, said trackway being unidirectional throughout its extent whereby a container moving therealong and down 30 the inclined portion will be deposited upon a conveyor upon withdrawal of the bench in a direction parallel with the length of the trackway and counter to the movement of the container, said trackway extending in a direction to deliver the container toward the side at which the packer stands.

3. A portable packing bench according to claim 2 in which the portion of the trackway above the body structure is inclined downwardly toward the 4 projecting portion to tilt a container thereon about an axis longitudinal of the container and toward a packer standing at that side.

4. A portable packing bench comprising a supporting body structure which is of oblong shape in horizontal dimensions, wheeled means at the bottom of the bench for enabling movement of the bench from a packing bin to a conveyor, and tracks on the top of the bench disposed at the narrow ends of the bench, said tracks extending parallel with the narrower dimension of the bench and transversely to a long side thereof, said tracks providing rests upon which a container may be placed during packing to present a longer side of the container toward the long side of the bench with'respectto which the tracks are transverse, the transverse positioning of the tracks relative to said long side serving to deliver the container toward that side so that the container will be delivered from the bench with its longer dimension in parallelism with the longer dimension of the bench.

5. A bench according to claim 4, in which the tracks slope downwardly toward said long side with respect to which the tracks are transverse.

6. A portable packing bench comprising a supporting body structure against one side of which a packer is intended to stand, and a trackway carried thereby for supporting and delivering a container, said trackway having a portion above the bench and a portion projecting from the bench and beyond the side of the bench at which a packer stands, said projecting portion being wholly supported by the bench so that a free space is therebeneath to receive a conveyor, said projecting por- 5 1 and the projection of the projecting portion from that side serving to move a container toward the packers side of the bench and to deliver a container from the bench in parallelism with its positioning on the bench, said projecting portion of the trackway being collapsible relative to the bench in substantially the same horizontal plane in which it lies when projecting, said projecting portion when collapsed facilitating movement of the packer.

BESSIE LINN SMITH. 

